As the Department of Education carries out a review of New Jersey’s charter schools, it should note the tremendous public support for them. It’s time for officials to match that support

Fifty thousand New Jersey families have chosen a public charter school option for their children. These families are experiencing unprecedented academic achievements, even in urban areas like Newark where charter school students outperformed the statewide average.

Star Ledger--What we could do to train schools in trauma to improve students’ future

Cole: Given that children spend a bulk of their waking hours in a school environment, it seems crucial that school become appropriately sensitized to the inevitability that large numbers of their students have endured at least a certain degree of trauma in their lives.

A 12-year-old boy has witnessed repeated episodes of domestic violence through the years and his teachers are now observing significant difficulty with his behavior at school. Is there a link between these two circumstances? Very likely. And, what is being done to address this problematic link? Increasingly more.

Education Week--Shortage of Special Educators Adds to Classroom Pressures

The number of special education teachers nationally has dropped by more than 17 percent over the past decade, a worrisome trend in a career path that has seen chronic shortages for years.

An analysis of federal data by the Education Week Research Center shows that while the number of special education teachers was dropping, the number of students with disabilities ages 6 to 21 declined by only about 1 percent over the same time period. And as a whole, the number of teachers in all fields has gone up slightly over the past decade, as has overall enrollment.